1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a method for packing and transporting goods on pallets, and more particularly to a pallet and a method wherein pallets can be individually loaded and then combined to form a single load unit which can be handled and transported more efficiently.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, large goods such as refrigerators, freezers, stoves, dishwashers, etc., commonly referred to as white goods, are transported by truck from the manufacturer to a retailer or directly to a customer. To protect the goods during transportation, they are generally wrapped with shock absorbing materials such as cellulose plastic plates, provided with a frame of wood, and wrapped with an outer film of shrinkable plastic or the like. Each individual good is then placed on a pallet and separately loaded onto the truck.
This traditional method of loading and transporting goods has some drawbacks associated with it. Each of the individual goods must be loaded and unloaded separately which requires more labor than would otherwise be needed if several goods could be combined into a single load. Because the goods are separately provided with protective materials for transportation, more protective materials are required than would be needed if several goods could be combined into a single load. Also, individually protected goods require more space than would a combined load, which results in less effective utilization of truck space than would otherwise be possible. For example, the standard width and depth of 60 cm for white goods permits only three such goods, after being prepared for shipment, to be loaded beside each other across a truck bed having a width of 260 cm.
A pallet having sections which can be easily broken away from the original pallet with each section being capable of supporting a load which can be individually transported on the section after it is broken away is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,991. One disadvantage of the breakaway pallet is that the individual sections cannot be brought back together for reuse as a combined load pallet. Moreover, the arrangement does not facilitate handling of individually loaded pallets before combining them into a single load for transportation.
German Patent No. 3,528,959 describes a pallet arrangement comprising several sections which are locked to each other before transportation. This arrangement, because of the large number of parts involved, is relatively difficult to use.